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(Published in French and in English, you’ll find the first paragraphs of both versions below. For the complete versions — in both languages — and more photography, subscribers please e-mail paulbenitzak@gmail.com . Not already a subscriber? Subscribe with PayPal for just $29.95/year by designating your PayPal payment to paulbenitzak@gmail.com, or write us at that address to find out how to subscribe by check. Subscribers get full access to the Dance Insider & Arts Voyager’s 20-year Archive of more than 2000 exclusive reviews by 150 critics of performances and art from five continents, plus the Jill Johnston Letter.)

LYON, France — Impeccable virtuosity, lines which stretch out to infinity, faultless precision – such are the trademarks of the 12 dancers of Lines Contemporary Ballet, seen December 14 at the Maison de la Danse. Alonzo King, director and choreographer of the San Francisco-based company, succeeds in transporting us with this excellence, but forgets to really surprise the spectator that I am….

SAN FRANCISCO — Two women take turns performing solos on a vast stage bathed in burnt sienna and ocher light. One sits and watches the other with full, rapt attention. As we in the audience watch the smile of the watcher, as well as the serpentine prowling of the soloist, all to the haunting strains of master oud player Hamza El Din, we are exactly where the title of the dance would have us be: Ecstasy. And this is only one part of one of the longer pieces, “Tarab,” the only non-premiere in a mostly satisfying program of Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet which opened Friday at Yerba Buena. The crown jewel of “Tarab” is the brilliant Wedding Dance. As El Din played and sang, his sensual reedy voice filling the vast theater as soothingly as bathwater, pairs of women and pairs of men crossed back and forth striking snaky, Egyptian poses that contorted through every joint in their body. It was a pure and wonderful piece, the marriage couple ending the dance in mock fatigue, jostling together in reckless joy.

To receive the complete article, first published on April 9, 2000, subscribers please contact publisher Paul Ben-Itzak at paulbenitzak@gmail.com. Not a subscriber? Subscribe to the DI for just $29.95/year ($99 for institutions gets full access for all your teachers, students, dance company members, etc.) by designating your PayPal payment in that amount to paulbenitzak@gmail.com, or write us at that address to learn how to pay by check. Subscribers receive full access to the DI Archive of 2,000 exclusive reviews by 150 leading dance critics of performances on five continents from 1998 through 2015. You can also purchase a complete copy of the Archives for just $49 (individuals) or $109 (institutions) Contact Paul at paulbenitzak@gmail.com . Lines Ballet performs Alonzo King’s “Biophony” and “Sand” December 13-22 at the Maison de la Danse in Lyon.